In addition to being the tradeshow “where the latest technical innovations of outdoor gear are found,” Outdoor Retailer could be described as one giant summer camp for any and all retailers, brands, nonprofits, athletes, activists and organizations related to the Outdoor Industry. For Outdoor Industry companies, this tradeshow allows us to come together twice a year (once in summer, once in winter) and connect — whether it’s putting a face to the the person we’ve been emailing for months or seeing our local retailer friends again. It’s a time when people from all over the world gather at the Salt Lake City Salt Palace, take a look at the innovative gear coming out next season and celebrate what brings us together: the outdoors! And while we always have a blast at OR, this summer’s show isn’t going to be just another tradeshow for us — we’re celebrating our 40th Anniversary with our industry friends, partners, retailers and fans alike!

Attending OR August 6-9? Be sure to visit the Osprey Booth (#5010) to see our Spring 2015 product line — we’ve got some exciting new packs and gear debuting at the show! Make sure you don’t miss a beat by checking out the Show Overview ,Event Schedule, and Education Schedule.

And if you’re not able to attend (OR isn’t open to consumers, unlike the majority of the events we attend!) you can get a sneak peek of gear debuting at the show and follow the day-to-day news with outlets like the OR Show Dailies and The Gear Junkie (whose Summer OR gear preview features our Spring 2015 Atmos AG!) as well as following the #ORshow hashtag on Twitter and Instagram. We’ll be posting behind the scenes updates on the Osprey Packs Twitter and Instagram feeds — be sure to follow us for the latest!

If you’re heading to the show for your 1st, 2nd or 40th time, you probably know that there’s never a shortage of activities, parties, panels & events, but because this just so happens to be our 40th Anniversary summer show, we want to make sure you know about some special Osprey Packs events you won’t want to miss:

$40 Spring 2015 Escapist 25– All Proceeds Donated to the Conservation Alliance: We’re proud to be longtime supporters of the Conservation Alliance, an incredible nonprofit that for 25 years has been engaging Outdoor Industry businesses to fund and partner with organizations to protect wild places for their habitat and recreation values. Osprey will be offering our Spring 2015 Escapist 25 (Retail $125) for $40. All proceeds from the sale of this pack (which won’t be available at retailers until Spring 2015!) will be donated to The Conservation Alliance.

Leave No Trace “Great Gear Giveaway”– Make sure you make your way to the Leave No Trace booth as they will be giving out one of the best prizes at OR! The Great Gear Giveaway happens on Wednesday 8/6, Thursday 8/7 and Friday 8/8 of the show and includes 6 boxes of gear filled with an assortment of gear from 20 Leave No Trace partners!

Osprey Packs 40th Anniversary Happy Hour– Free beer and amazing pints provided by Klean Kanteen? We could stop there, but that’s not all! Join us from 4:30-6:00 on Wed. 8/6 and we’ll also have fresh Osprey Packs swag and a very special musical appearance that will surely have you groovin’ during the Happiest of Hours! Come enjoy a beer in a commemorative 40th Anniversary pint, get your Wilderness Ranger Cookbook signed by USFS Ranger Ralph Swain and get in on great giveaways!

The Conservation Alliance 25th Anniversary Party– We’re not the only ones with a milestone anniversary to celebrate at this OR! The Conservation Alliance turns 25 this year, and we are celebrating their tireless dedication to uniting our industry and protecting the wild places we love! The Conservation Alliance is throwing a party to celebrate with their friends & supporters, featuring music from Osprey favorite The Infamous Stringdusters, on Thursday August 7, from 6-10 p.m. at The Lot (115 S. West Temple), directly across the street from the main entrance to the Salt Palace.

Ragnar and OIWC Relay Challenge Presented by Outdoor Retailer — This Friday, August 8, 6am-10am at The Pavilions, relay teams of three will pound the pavement on this 3-mile, out and back course. Come out to cheer on Osprey’s teams – or even better sign up and help us build another team!! Support the work of the Outdoor Industries Women’s Coalition (OIWC) who provide advocacy, education and resources for women in the Outdoor, Bike, and Snow Industries.

Check out this ZigZagging interview from last OR show with Osprey Founder, Mike Pfotenhauer! Here’s to a great show!

If you’ve ever gone home from OR to a partner or roommate who’s never been, it can be tough to explain just why you’re so exhausted when you return. But if you’ve ever experienced the madness, fun and fluorescent lights of this show yourself, you know that it takes about a week’s time to recover fully from the happy hours, meetings and never-ending events. Maybe you’re in the recovery phase right now; maybe you missed the show and want to know what happened. Either way, here’s just a bit of what went down at this year’s epic Outdoor Retailer show!

The Infamous Stringdusters play for the 2013 American Rivers Tour Wednesday night.

Day One capped off with a performance from The Infamous Stringdusters at SLC’s Depot, which kicked off their American Rivers Tour, “an epic summer music adventure stopping through, and winding down, some of American’s wildest and most beloved rivers and surrounding communities.”

Osprey Stands up for the Colorado River!

Osprey’s Marketing Manager Gareth Martins shows support for the Colorado River, which supports 250,000 sustainable recreation industry jobs across the southwest. Day two’s Conservation Alliance Breakfast with Pete McBride taught us that” in 2013, American Rivers named the Colorado River the nation’s #1 most endangered river due to drought, over-allocation and climate change.” Visit www.StandUpForCoRiver.com to learn more about the campaign to save the Colorado.

We know, we know; How did it get to be this time of year again? We’re wondering the same thing. Alas, it’s Summer OR time, and as always, we’ve all got a lot to look forward to. Here’s our list of events…

Sheep Mountain Alliance is a grassroots citizen organization dedicated to the preservation of the natural environment in the Telluride Region and Southwest Colorado. They’re currently a key advocate in the effort to pass the San Juan Wilderness Bill and stopping the Pinon Ridge Uranium Mill in Paradox, CO. Drop by the Osprey Booth and purchase a Klean Kanteen cup for $10 to fill it with a tasty beer and enter for a chance to win an Osprey Pack while supporting Sheep Mountain Alliance. Drop your business card for your chance to win our all-expenses-paid summer trip giveaway to Telluride, which will include: a tour of Osprey’s Cortez headquarters before heading to Telluride for two nights’ lodging and two days of skiing for two people or two rounds of golf for two people, as well as an Osprey travel wheels pack and a ski or day pack to get you there. Stick around — the winner will be announced at the end of the party — and while you’re mingling you can learn about the Sheep Mountain Alliance as well as Osprey and Telluride’s efforts to source green power to run their operations.

PACK SALE TO BENEFIT THE LOST MOUNTAIN PROJECT

When: While supplies last, get ’em while they’re hot!

Where: Osprey Packs booth #5010

Purchase an Osprey Rev 6 for $35 and support The Lost Mountain Project, a collaboration between an international cadre of scientists, conservationists, global adventurers and filmmakers featuring Osprey athlete Majka Burhardt. Put this OR event on your calendar and we will see you there!

Grammy-nominated bluegrass outfit The Infamous Stringdusters are kicking off their 2013 American Rivers Tour, an epic summer music adventure stopping through, and winding down, some of America’s wildest and most beloved rivers and surrounding communities at Outdoor Retailer with a live concert at The Depot in SLC! We’re proud sponsors of this event and will be there to help the Stringdusters celebrate their partnership with the nation’s leading river conservation organization, American Rivers, which is celebrating its 40th Anniversary. Come by to help celebrate, raise money and awareness for the organization and its mission to protect and restore rivers and clean water nationwide.

A casual scenic bike ride around downtown Salt Lake City. Plan for an easy social ride that features a fun stop at Liberty Park where we will have snacks, refreshments, games and giveaways. Ends back at the Palace.

Every year, Vertfest returns to Alpental, Washington as the biggest Freeride and Mountain Mettle Festival in North America. What’s more, this year Vertfest will celebrate with festivities at two locations, adding Vertfest January 19th at Mt. Bachelor near Bend, Oregon! As stated on the site, “This new venue will host a challenging course, backcountry/sidecountry oriented clinics, demos and loads of fun. Come join us at Mt. Bachelor for the first ‘series’ race in the Vertfest Series. Elite racers will earn points towards the series point total.”

The 7th Annual Vertfest in Alpental will be hosted February 16th and 17th, and will kick off on the 16th with the Monika Johnson Memorial Rally, to be followed by an awards ceremony and a raffle boasting skis, packs and gear galore. The event will also host live music from Head Like A Kite and Daydream Vacation, featuring Asya of NYC based Smooshand. On the final day of Vertfest, special guest Jessica Baker of Ski Divas and Neil Provo, professional splitboarder from Salt Lake City will be there to show their skills in clinics.

Want to experience all of the glory that Vertfest promises to be? Get your tickets here, ASAP!

The cold, dark month of January is plodding along after the madness of the holidays and a New Year Celebration. And that can only mean one thing, Winter Outdoor Retailer is nearly upon us again! The show kicks off with an all mountain demo on the 22nd, and the trade show will take place from January 23rd through the 26th. Of course, we’ll be there to showcase our brand-new packs and innovations, roosting at Booth #5011. We hope to see you there!

We’re excited for the show as always, but we’re also stoked to announce that this OR, The Conservation Alliance Breakfast will welcome the incredible Cheryl Strayed, author of the incredibly powerful memoir WILD, which details Strayed’s journey as a 22-year-old solo-hiking the Pacific Crest Trail from the Mojave Desert through California and Oregon to Washington State. Strayed will present on Thursday, January 24th from 7 to 9 a.m. at The Marriott, Salons F-I in Salt Lake City. This is a breakfast you won’t want to miss, and we hope to see you there!

Last week, wildlife photographer Florian Schulz transported us to the Arctic through his collection of beautiful images. We didn’t even have to leave our seats at The Conservation Alliance breakfast at Outdoor Retailer Winter Market to catch the chill of polar wind, hear the cries of migrating birds and feel our hearts thump as we watched baby polar bears fleeing from danger.

Schulz is, John Sterling of the Conservation Alliance told us, “a truly gifted story teller who transports us to places we may never otherwise get to visit.”…

He didn’t just “wow” us with images or stories of braving harsh conditions (though he did tell some amazing ones about that). His message was simple, clear, and inspiring: “My connection to the environment is something very emotional; it comes from the heart for me especially now that I have become a dad,” said Schulz getting noticeably choked up when talking about the arrival of his son in December. “I hope we can keep this planet the way it is for a while longer…. Fighting for this is essential.”

On Schulz’s website, he says:

“For many years now there has been strong interest in expanding oil drilling in the Alaskan Arctic, both on land and offshore. Many have considered the Arctic landscape a barren wasteland or a flat, white nothingness.

I take these sentiments as a personal challenge to document an extremely remote and mostly unknown area of North America — for a public that otherwise might never see it. It’s true that at first glance some areas may seem desolate or barren. But those same areas may be teeming with life just days later, with tens of thousands of migrating caribou, or wolves or grizzlies.”

While many of us have never been to the Arctic, as these images show, it’s a special, wild place full of life — and worth protecting. Learn more about what you can do to help protect it by visiting alaskawild.org.

I’m crammed into the middle seat of an oversold United flight, sandwiched between a close-talker and a person that is half in my seat in addition to his. Along comes the flight attendant, and even though I want to sleep this nightmare away, my coffee addiction is calling. I contort sideways to reach my bag at my feet, glad that I’m only 5’3” tall, or this maneuver would be physically impossible even with years of yoga. I’m just barely able to loop a pinky and remove my Klean Kanteen insulated thermos and present it to the aisle. The stewardess looks annoyed at my offering, then pours the coffee instead into a Styrofoam cup transfers it to my vessel, and then throws the cup away.

I can barely contain myself , but decide that today I won’t give her my rant: that we could power one million cars if we gave up our addiction to petroleum-based plastics; that Americans throw away half a billion plastic bottles a week, enough to circle the globe twice; or that most plastic ends up in landfills, oceans and fish bellies, and is never ever recycled.